Traditional cosmetic formulations have included oils and various lipophilic substances that formulate a protective coating on skin to mitigate weathering effects. The inclusion of a sunblock in a cosmetic also mitigates ultraviolet damage to the skin associated with aging and free radical production. Other components conventional to cosmetic compositions are emollients that convey appreciable quantities of water to the skin that in combination with oils affects the amount of moisture released or retained from skin to mask wrinkles. Unfortunately, such conventional cosmetic formulations have failed to afford a long term, chemical improvement of skin quality.
The observation of fish hatchery workers whose hands had exceptional skin quality even with prolonged exposure to cold water was the genesis of the isolation of a new class of proteins associated with fish eggs. Such proteins are detailed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,346,245; 6,592,866; U.S. 2011/0280882; WO2011/06434; and U.S. 2009/0274770. The proteins so isolated included zonases, leukolectins, very acidic proteins (VAPS) and choroelysins. At least some of these proteins are effective in treating autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, as well as damaged skin, all with minimal side effects. While such proteins improved damaged skin function associated with weathering and various environmental stressors, such as exposure to air conditioning or airborne pollutants, these proteins appear to have little or no effect on other attributes associated with damaged and aged skin. Additionally, while the inclusion of such fish spawn isolate proteins in cosmetics has been contemplated, the ability to maintain protein activity and afford storage stability in a cosmetic formulation represents a technical challenge.
Thus, there exists a need for a storage stable cosmetic that treats multiple aspects of skin aging while incorporating the anti-inflammatory attributes of eggs and in particular, fish spawn derived proteins. There further exists a need for such a cosmetic that is essentially free of synthetic cosmetic components that have unintended deleterious effects on the skin and bioaccumulation problems.